Can a Fish be as playful as a kitten???

ok - that is a question worth investigating and until recently the notion that fish can "be playful" or play with a toy like a kitten was a complete foreign concept especially when you consider that goldfish are supposed to have the attention span of 2 sec (so the myth says).

This is me testing the equipment for any future investigation.


Anyhow - let's back track for a mo and refresh our minds that we had a cat who tried her water skills in the breast stroke - which failed miserably and I ended up with one wet & soggy moggy. (hmm perhaps she needed one of these very high tech modern swimsuits????) - anyhow - I am convinced that her escapades did the damage to the fish tank that led to the eventual cracking of the seam and subsequent flood in the house - refer to previous blog entry:

(oldbearnews-noahs-flood.html &
oldbearnews- swimming-cat-doing-breaststroke)

Soooo; one expensive large tank later with several late additions of water plants and different fish types we are all sweet - and set up - O N L Y
to hear once in a while a occasional twack, twack (it sounded just like a drop of water falling from the shower head on the floor) coming from the general region of the fish tank. - SOOOO I know what your thinking - I'm paranoid - but trust me - having had twice to mop up and since our NZ houses are timber framed and Gib lined - I could not face yet another clean-up - let alone the drama of shifting everything - again. Still after a extensive search I could not find any water on the floor or anywhere else. And yet the twack continued at various intervals - at totally random times. And I'm getting more and more worried - u know - 200 liters of 26 degree water - make a hell of a mess . . . .

'TILL I saw what happened. Well you see I have 2 striped Gouramis - who so I am NOW told can be playful and one of them takes pleasure in swimming lazy circles towards the area where the thermostat is attached to the wall and as he goes slowly and very deliberately past it he flicks his tail forcing the thermostat against the glass - which makes a very definitive "twack" sound - and then he continues - another lazy 4 inch diameter circle - returns and - "twack" - and - again "twack"!!
Mystery solved he says with relief - and it would seem that at least some fish have enough intelligence to be playful!! - who would have thought???? I therefore can confidently say - yep - at least some fish can be as playful as a kitten. Hmmm wonder if I can get the fish to catch the resident mouse ? ? ? ?